Vent pick in the touch hole while loading

[M. De Land]

Most of us have a coned vent liner. When loading, the coned liner serves the purpose of allowing the loose powder from the main charge being pushed into the cone, bringing powder closer to the heat generated in the pan. The pick in the touch hole in some cases may block some powder access to the cone. After the main charge is compressed during loading, powder is not going to flow readily into the cone in the touch hole. I prefer to bump the breech after pouring powder to get some loose powder into the cone of the vent liner. I do pick the touch hole before shooting to ensure that the touch hole is clear.

While the preparation of the musket for loading following shots does not specify the whisking of the pan and flint between shots, that was part of the practice shooting to recognize that short term bit of maintenance. I have a whisk and pick attached to the strap on my cartridge box. This is very handy for a quick whisk and prick of the touch hole as I recover the musket after firing. Much better to have a musket that is more likely to fire than to have one that has a large buildup of powder fouling on the flint, in the pan and in the touch hole. Yes, failure to fires do occur in the line of battle.

I have been experimenting with liners I make of A-2 tool steel with the cone on the exterior. The interior of the liner is machined to the same curve as the bore orbit diameter of the barrel. These seem to be working as well as any other liners folks are using. I am curious to see how well they last as I do not harden them. They have a high chrome content which hopefully will resist erosion well and are still soft enough to be easily removed when they open up over time.

 

[DuncNZ]

Some how I always thought the cone was to spread the flash to a larger area of powder , like a shaped charge, and pricking the powder made a channel into the charge increasing the contact area with the flame , as well as removing carbon build up . The point of a coned flash hole , whether coned from the inside or outside is to reduce the wall thickness and in the case of an internally coned flash hole with a very slight cone on the out side will add a mild venturi effect which will increase the speed of the flash into the main charge . An internal cone probably is better because the external cone would collect powder for a fuse effect and could act as a funnel to gather moisture . The early gunmakers made complicated tools for making internal cones for a reason .
I have never bumped the side of any of my muzzle loaders , cap or flint and do not have ignition problems because of the lack of that act .
if you have a flintlock with a .250/28 flash hole liner you can make emergency replacements by cutting the top off a similar thread percussion nipple

 

[M. De Land]

Some how I always thought the cone was to spread the flash to a larger area of powder , like a shaped charge, and pricking the powder made a channel into the charge increasing the contact area with the flame , as well as removing carbon build up . The point of a coned flash hole , whether coned from the inside or outside is to reduce the wall thickness and in the case of an internally coned flash hole with a very slight cone on the out side will add a mild venturi effect which will increase the speed of the flash into the main charge . An internal cone probably is better because the external cone would collect powder for a fuse effect and could act as a funnel to gather moisture . The early gunmakers made complicated tools for making internal cones for a reason .
I have never bumped the side of any of my muzzle loaders , cap or flint and do not have ignition problems because of the lack of that act .
if you have a flintlock with a .250/28 flash hole liner you can make emergency replacements by cutting the top off a similar thread percussion nipple

The idea of the external cone is to funnel the pan heat/ flash inward to turn the lights on and not vector/funnel the pressure of the main charge ignition outward. If you have had occasion to be burned by a shooter using a WL liner the next bench over you will have some idea of what I speak.
I have not actually run a test comparison but it seems to me that they ex spell gas farther to the side then does a simple flash hole of comparable diameter.

 

[DuncNZ]

I use White Lightening flash liners on all my flintlocks and have been banished to the far right of the range . I have been sprayed by my own rifle when I gave someone else a shot .

 

[M. De Land]

Well, with personal flinters, all with flat breech plugs, and white lightning liners, I just don’t understand all the gyrations everyone is going through.
i have vent picks, but just can’t remember the last time I’ve used one. Maybe a half dozen times in the last 20 years.
In the extreme case, that I have a misfire, I spend 10 minutes looking for a pick, then business as usual.
if I had to go through all these steps to shoot these things, I’d probably start building cap guns.

I think one of the differences to keep in mind here is wither one is match shooting, plinking or hunting. Match work will require a different approach because of the sheer volume of fire and fouling build up that neither of the other two would involve. Also in match work your usually working against a clock or at the very least some kind of time restraint.
I can fire about 25-30 shots with out any problems but then if I don't scrape the breech plug face the fouling will build up enough to begin blocking the flash hole and even a soft wire hole pick will not prevent misfires.
I have settled on putting enough powder in the pan to fill it across it's full area and I like and use Null B which is black powder dust, it is so fine. I can't remember when I have not had pan ignition as the shear area of powder exposure insures a fire will start.
I like to use soft black wire of proper size with a hemisphere end filed on so as not to stab the off side of the barrel wall opposite the flash hole which some hard picks do.
I also believe that in match work (which is about all I do) the flint should be touched up with a pressure flaker at the end of a couple of relays. This really helps maintain a consistent spark production thus ignition and consistency that adds up to points in your score.
I feel it a mistake to keep working the flint until it stops making a good spark shower before pressure flaking the edge sharp again.